Most of you know me primarily as a die-hard Ford, Panther and IH fan (yet with a heartfelt soft spot for Buicks). Over the years, a few other vehicles have earned a place in my automotive pantheon, especially those that potentially could be driven for free, or turn me a profit; Mazda is the first name among them.

After my now-wife and I had bought our first house together, it seemed that our next step as “grown-ups” should be to buy a new car. She wanted a small but comfortable car, I wanted something fun to drive, and so we found ourselves looking seriously at Mazda 323s and Mercury Tracers. For the benefit of our readers outside the U.S., the Mercury Tracer was a 323 beneath its slightly different sheet metal (as was the contemporary Australian Ford Laser, which is not to be confused with the later, Escort-derived 323 that also had a Tracer variant.)

Providing you were buying new and didn’t want a stripper, we quickly found the Mercury to be the better value. There were other differences as well: The base Tracer had a nicer interior, came standard with a five-speed manual, and even got more MPG with a 3.89 final drive vs. the Mazda’s 4.11. It also didn’t hurt that my wife liked the Tracer that a friend’s girlfriend had recently purchased after landing her first job out of college. At the time, the Tracer was available only as a hatchback, and since I was a hatchback fan anyway, we decided that was the way to go.

Even though we’d been shopping for quite a while, we hadn’t had much luck finding one equipped the way we wanted it; what’s more, the better half still wasn’t all that sure about spending quite so much money on our purchase. Tracers were pretty poorly stocked by the Mercury dealers in our area, and all too many of those on hand were automatics. To complicate matters further, finding one that wasn’t red (which my wife absolutely didn’t want) or pale yellow wasn’t easy. The bottom line was that she wanted a blue car and I wanted A/C, and most of the cars that had it were automatics.

The process wore on until the night she happened to check the newspaper before I got home and found a year-old 323 two-door hatch. Since we were set on that platform anyway and the price was so low, we had to take a look. The car had been purchased by the son of an owner of a local restaurant chain who’d used it to travel to various Seattle-area locations to oversee operations. It had been the loss leader featured in a weekend dealer ad (remember those Saturday morning newspaper auto sections trumpeting “one only at this price” specials?), and as such it was stripped; in fact, the lone factory-installed option was the rear window defroster, although an aftermarket AM/FM Cassette stereo had been installed.

He was working that night at their downtown Seattle restaurant so we’d have to go there to see it, but he did offer us a free dinner for our trouble. The miles on the odometer were a touch high for a year-old car, but the price was right. We snapped it up. He did point out one “flaw” that it had since new: Somehow, during assembly it ended up with a deluxe-model chrome interior handle on one door and a proper black one on the other.

In my wife’s new job–her first real job since graduating college–she wore “business attire”, which often meant skirts or dresses and high heels. Since her commute was mainly in stop-and-go traffic, she quickly tired of the four-speed, despite the fact that all her previous vehicles had manual transmissions. She also preferred four-doors and sedans to hatchbacks, so she was never really in love with the car. While I loved the 4.11 ratio, the lack of a fifth gear made for not-so-pleasant long trips.

Still, it was fun to drive around town, nimble and very quick for that class of car at the time. It definitely was one of the cars that gave Mazda a reputation for “Zoom-Zoom” before it became their slogan. One day my boss told me he was looking for a car for his wife. She had taken a new job as a sales rep, and his Firebird wasn’t well suited for her use, so we quickly made a deal. In the end, I got the Firebird and his wife got the 323, for almost as much as we had paid for it.

As I mentioned, my usual way is to buy cars that will ultimately either net me a profit or work out to my driving them for free. I was back in that mode when one evening I spotted a potential money maker in the classifieds. This one was a red 1980 Mazda 626. The story was that it had a vibration at various speeds that the owner’s mechanics had been unable to cure, even after replacing the U-joints for a princely sum. He had already bought another car and just wanted this one gone. It was a top-of-the-line two-door coupe, in immaculate condition, with every option but an automatic.

Within hours, I drove it home for the price of $600. The wife wasn’t too happy about the color, but I assured her that she wouldn’t have to see it for that long since I was going to flip the car for a profit. The drive home made it apparent that the vibration was a drive shaft issue. It would come and go whenever you hit the right speeds for the harmonics, becoming noticeable at around 30 mph and really noticeable at 60. Since the Seattle area had a 55 mph speed limit, that’s where I kept it on the cruise home. After a weekend trip to the wrecking yard for a used drive shaft, all was good once more.

For a while we drove it happily, until the day when a bypass hose decided to spring a big leak with my wife behind the wheel. For some reason, she decided it could make the few remaining miles home, and it almost did. She walked the last mile or so, and once I got home we went to retrieve it. In the two hours since the breakdown, it had cooled down enough to make it the rest of the way home once I’d filled the radiator with water. Closer inspection revealed a blown head gasket, which I quickly replaced; however, the engine had obviously suffered more damage. It was burning oil and didn’t have the power it once did. It got the job done, but it still wasn’t “right”, so I started looking for a new engine.

A fairly brief scan of the classifieds turned up an ’81 four-door, with an automatic reluctant to get into gear and barely able to back up, a trashed interior and rough exterior–and all for $200. Nevertheless, the engine still ran strong and the car didn’t have that many miles, so I limped it on home. After spending a weekend pulling that engine and other useful bits and another weekend sticking it in, our ’80 was running right again. We enjoyed its precise, nimble handling, A/C and peppy engine.

Eventually I came across a deal I couldn’t let go. So with it’s replacement in the driveway, I detailed the 626 to get it looking its best, parked it on the street in front of the house, and stuck a ‘For Sale’ sign in the window. My asking price was $1,250. Literally minutes after I’d put that sign in the window, a kid with a brand new driver’s license and a ’71 Mustang Sportsroof found himself where he didn’t want to be, and he pulled into the driveway across the street in order to back up and turn around. The combo of a 16-year-old driver and the terrible rear visibility of the Sportsroof resulted in his backing into my Mazda.

The impact broke the taillight, slightly dented the metal around it, and bent the edge of the trunk lid. Despite its age and condition, it wasn’t totaled by the insurance company. The good news was that the adjuster–formerly a automotive painter by trade–had been looking for an economical car that he could use in his new job instead of racking up more miles on his good car. Between the insurance check and what I got from selling it to him, I not only got my $1250 asking price, netting me a few hundred dollars for my labor and about 1 1/2 years of driving.

A few months later, I was working part-time at an auto parts store (mainly to get parts for my cars at prices even lower than store wholesale), he came in for parts to tune it up. He had fixed it nicely, and had completely repainted it metallic grey. It looked great, and because I’d occasionally see him around town and in the store, I know he drove it happily for at least a while longer.

More or less, although Matsuda wasn’t the founder; he was brought in by the company’s creditors in 1921, after the firm had floundered in its first year. Matsuda did get the company into trucks, though, which is where they first started using the Mazda name. (The company’s original business was synthetic cork products, believe it or not.)

I’ve never owned a Mazda (except, briefly, a Ford Courier which was a Mazda underneath). But your story, Eric, reminds me of my same strategy played out over the years: to acquire a car for daily use that also eventually made me a bit of money.

Living in salt country, I used to routinely head south in March, either with a drive-away car or a bus ticket. One such junket landed me in Mississippi with a suitcase full of diagnostic tools and a change of clothes. I then hitched around until, through inquiries or ads, I located a rust-free car to drive home. (You could do these things back in the 70s).

On that trip I found a stripper 1963 Valiant sedan with an asking price of $200. The seller openly expressed doubts, when learning of my plan, that this forlorn-looking Valiant would actually get me home.

Despite one small glitch (a failed starter motor) it got me safely and economically to my home in Vermont. This car then became my daily driver for the next three years. Then, with a little TLC and some paint, I found a buyer glad to pay me $1000 for it. He, in turn, drove it to the west coast, used it for his own car for more than a year, before, once again, reselling it for a profit. (Maybe its still going).

This turned out to be my introduction to the amazing qualities of these /6 compacts and ushered in a sideline operation that went on for years. It also taught me that sellers tend to value their cars vulnerability to breakdown largely in terms of their appearance, that a little TLC and improvement in appearance equals increased value and, in the right hands, this virtuous circle can go on for years. (Or, in the wrong hands, come quickly to a stop).

To make it work you had to have a car built for the long haul, not the fragile lemons that were routinely turned out by Europe and Detroit in those days.

Today, most cars fit this description. But today with more sophisticated buyers and sellers, with value determined by internet appraisals, or by “exogenous’ factors such as the relative sale of new cars, programs like ‘cash for clunkers’ and the incidence of car-destroying hurricanes, these opportunities are not as plentiful as in the past.

I had one of these (’81 626 Coupe). Bought it REALLY cheap. It needed the head rebuilt and some paint work. Very comfortable car; loved the pillarless hardtop. I have never seen so many vacuum hoses on a vehicle before or since.

I currently drive a more modern Mazda, a Protege5 hatchback with the 4spd sport stick automatic. As you say, it zooms along nicely and is such fun do drive, especially around town.

However, it’s my first Mazda I’ve ever owned though I had become familiar with them through their sheer existence over the years. A good friend once drove I think an 81 626 for years, getting it way up there in mileage, seemed to me she got it over 200K before replacing it with a used Ford Festiva (essentially, a Mazda 121, I think).

My parents once test drove a metallic red 82/83 626 sedan back when they were new, but we ended up with the ’83 X body Skylark instead, new. While the Skylark wasn’t a fantastic car even for the day, this was one was not a bad example so it did us fairly well, all things considered.

Anyway. I also got to ride in the early rear wheel drive GLC, (323 where sold elsewhere) that former church members had that they bought new and I’ve always liked those. Theirs was a ’78 if I recall.

Thankfully, being that I live on the west coast, I didn’t see these things rusting like they do elsewhere so was fortunate that when I bought mine, it appeared to have been bought locally when new, so it’s a very clean, rust free car, and currently has 117K+ miles on it and looks almost brand new.

BTW, if you drive any variant of the Ford Ranger, it’s part Mazda. I had a 1992, 2WD version of the truck with the Mazda sourced 5spd, and that was its nemisis as it never shifted smoothly, getting into, and out of 1st and second gear were often problematic (as in, not easy, but doable), and reverse would occasionally balk too.

Now, mind you this car had 189K miles on it when I bought it, and even with a fresh clutch, it still was balky, especially when warm – and the slave cylinder was INSIDE the bell housing, making its replacement an over $600 repair job (yes, had both the master and slave cylinders replaced, at different times).

Otherwise, it was as reliable as the day was long until January when multiple issues at almost 237K miles had me trading it for the Mazda.

I drove a 323 just like that once. Found it on a crappy hole-in-the-wall used car lot and asked if I could take it for a spin. Very impressive car and I loved everything about it. It was a stripper hatchback with the 4-speed and A/C as the only extra, don’t even remember it having power steering. This one was red and was in immaculate condition with fairly low miles for a 10+ year old car. Even though it was inexpensive when new, it didn’t feel cheap whatsoever. Rock solid in and out, engine loved to be worked, good layout of dashboard and controls and decently comfortable for it’s size. I considered buying it but they were asking some totally unrealistic price. Too bad… I felt that for that kind of car, you couldn’t do much better.

The 626 hardtop coupe is a really interesting and sadly rarely seen car. Like jpcavanaugh mentions, I can’t think of too many hardtops after this… only a handful of Mercedes-Benzes are coming to mind. It’s definitely the only car that married pragmatic early 80’s Japanese econobox looks with a 60’s Detroit muscle car roofline. Way effin cool (in my book at least).

In 1986, my gf of the the time was heading off for college, so her well-to-do parents have her the go-ahead to buy any small car she wanted. Since I was the car buff, I got to choose!

We drove everything but it was the Mazda 323 that was by far the best. The one she got was a Canada only DX model, a total stripper, not even power steering. This model even didn’t have fuel injection and it passed Canadian emissions wihout a catcon. The motor revved like the dickens and the five speed transmission was beautiful to shift. In fact, it drove even better than my much more expensive Jetta, since it had IRS.

What really mattered was the car was really well built, with excellent materials and handled beautifully. It even had Michelin tires stock, which account for the great handling. I also recall it had one of the best driver’s seats I have ever sat in, even to this day.

She kept it for four years and traded it off on the 1990 updated model, which was, in my opinion, not as good a car as the 1986.

The 323 has been the go to beater for ages the damn things just dont die rust is their only natural enemy even the flimsy bodywork holds up ok in a crash. An Irish friend drove a 626 for many years getting sterling service from it when the inevital happened and it began fuming bad she traded it on a used 86 626 and regretted it almost instantly the front drive car drove like a tank and drank fuel and worst of all could not negotiate her driveway in the wet getting highcentred and wheelspining in the mud despite all the creature features it was nowhere near as good a car.

When I was living “at home” back in my late teens I had a second shift job and tons of energy. The Neighbors had a 323 like that and once in a while I got to pilot it to shuttle him to O’Hare at an unbearable hour in the morning. He tossed me part of his Per Diem, bought Breakfast, and I got to beat the snot out of his car. Good deal!
That little 323 impressed the heck out of me. That thing would pull hard to redline and take On/Off ramps at a bit more than “advised” speeds better than anything I had driven at that point in my life. My old Omni came close but, that had been “upgraded” with some Shelby bits so it can’t really count.
It really was a GLC!

It was tough little number, but changing the heater core on it was the closest I ever got to open heart surgery – I was pleasantly surprised everything worked when I gt it all back together.

We did an advertising trade at the San Jose tv station for two white 323 hatchbacks, just like in the top picture, for our news crews to use (we couldn’t afford a microwave live-feed truck). The got abused every day for years, without ever the slightest complaint. Absolutely indestructible. They earned my respect.

Someone posted a while back about the “phenomena” of seeing a CC in the flesh just after reading about one. I sort of had this just a few hours ago, and then some. I needed something from my storage unit in Springfield, so I headed that way and saw you turning onto 7th from Chambers. Not 30 minutes later I turned into Fred Meyer on Q Street and saw an exact duplicate of the Mercury in pics 2 and 3, if not the exact car. (Couldn’t grab my camera quickly enough to snap it.)

Interesting read! I’ve always liked that shape Mazda 626 – not sure about the States, but in New Zealand we got a facelift version which came with flush headlights. Made a good looking shape even better. Love the 2-door hardtops – very few sold here new, but still a few around, some with a rotary retro-fitted.

Speaking of Mazdas since Mazda had been divorced from Ford Motor Company for more than a couple of years now, there is now a possibility that the Next Generation Mazda 2 will also be joint ventured with Toyota (its competitor) for the next version of the Toyota Yaris in 2015.